This essay is an original work by JY23. Please comment only on the talk page.

When you get shocked (that is, a wave of electricity flows through the body resulting in a mildly painful sensation) by a metal object or person, is your first reaction not along the lines of "Ow, you shocked me!" Such reactions are quite normal. The body's natural response is to recoil from anything that causes pain.

However, when it comes to non-physical matters, for some reason, people tolerate, or even worse, enjoy what I would call "Mental shocks". "Mental shocks" would include the following and more:

Nowadays, "mental shocks" are everywhere. On the radio, DJs (of all things, known as "shock jocks") berate listeners with their compulsive profanity and various liberal ideologies. In stereos, vulgar rap music blares for all to hear, including impressionable young minds. I was at a party in the middle of January of 2009, and some of the stuff that I had heard out of the iPod there nearly made me throw up! Likewise, at schools these days, people will go around to their friends and show them their writings meant only to shock the reader.

On our television sets, Comedy Central throws out more liberal junk for young minds to hear. In our video games, one is likely to see more gore in one M-rated game than in five R-rated movies, not to mention several choice words. I am a gamer, so that stuff sickens me even the more. Such things do not make sense.

In closing, what "value" is there in such things? Timbaland's last album, Shock Value, is quite shocking indeed. It is also an object lesson in the entertainment of our era. Shocking people does not accomplish any purpose other than that which Satan wants it to. Will we allow ourselves to be desensitized to all the junk around us, or will we follow Philippians 4:8 and all else that the Bible wants us to do?